Abstract

Following Gumbrecht’s (2004) draft of a theory of presence the notion of presence aims at spatial relations: Something is present if it is tangible or ‘in actual range’ (Sch´’utz/Luckmann 1979). Concerning the social world, Goffman (1971) understands co-presence in a similar way, as the chance to get in direct contact with each other. For this, the possibility of mutually perceiving each other is a precondition and is in turn made possible by a shared location. Goffman’s concept of co-presence is bound to a shared here and now and thus is based on a notion of situation with place as its central dimension. Interaction as a basic mode of human exchange builds on situations and the possibility of mutual perception allowing so called perceived perceptions in particular (Hausendorf 2003) as the main mechanism of focused encounters. Media studies, however, proved that both the notion of situation as place and interaction as co-presence need to be extended as mediated contact creates new forms of situations and interactions. Especially Meyrowitz (1990) shows that the notion of situation has to be detached from the dimension of place and instead be redefined in terms of mediated contact. Therefore, the question ”who can hear me, who can see me?” is the basis for individual orientation and should guide the analysis of (inter)action. Although media enlarges the scope of perception in this way, it is not just a simple extension, but a transformation process in which the mediation itself plays a crucial role.